Early College High School Publications and Other Resources

Core Documents from the Early College High School Initiative

Early College High Schools: Opportunity for a Lifetime, prepared by Public Interest and Jobs for the Future, features schools in Los Angeles, California; Brooklyn, New York; and Spindale, North Carolina. In this inspiring, seven-minute video, students tell the story of how early college high schools motivate young people to stay in school, work hard, and meet serious intellectual challenges. If you would like a DVD of Early College High Schools: Opportunity for a Lifetime, please contact eyaffa@jff.org.

Since 2002, the partner organizations of the Early College High School Initiative have started or redesigned over 160 schools in 24 states. Through the initiative's continued efforts, the partners will ultimately open about 250 small schools , serving over 100,000 students annually.

Click here to view the list of schools. 

Click here to download the list of schools.

This four-page summary provides the most current data on the growth and
impact of the Early College High School Initiative, including data on the
schools’ impact on students, descriptions of the various types of early
college schools, and much more.

Creating Early College High Schools

By Nancy Hoffman and Katie Bayerl
“Accelerated learning options,” including early college high schools, push students to go further and faster. This brief introduces the rationale for accelerated learning and its potential for helping young people make a smooth transition into college. With the Early College High School Initiative only a few years old, and other accelerated learning options expanding rapidly, it is too soon to declare that challenge not remediation is the way for schools to go if we want more college graduates and better lives for our young people. But preliminary data from the initiative are promising, and thousands of high school students who never thought they’d attend college are well on their way to a college degree.

Advancing Literacy describes the Kellogg/Early College High School Literacy Project, which supports ECHS partners and schools in addressing their students’ literacy needs. The project was developed because many of the young people targeted by early college high schools—first-generation college-goers and other students underrepresented in colleges—may not be ready to move quickly into college courses without developing the literacy skills necessary to access and understand rigorous academic content.

Developed collaboratively by the early college high initiative partners, this tool for planning, improvement, and teaching establishes a set of ideals to which all early college high schools strive. The rubric helps partner organizations, school leaders, and postsecondary partners evaluate their progress and identify areas for improvement.

By Nancy Hoffman
This article in Change magazine addresses the multiple, often fragmented, high school reforms intended to increase college access. The expansion of opportunities for high school students to earn college credit underscores progress in creating a seamless education system, from kindergarten through college. Fortunately, programs for college credit in high school are no longer limited to elite schools, and students from a wide range of backgrounds and with diverse accomplishments are showing that the academic challenge of college courses is an inspiration not a barrier. The question then is the degree to which these opportunities will increase the number of young people gaining a college diploma or other postsecondary credential—especially students for whom access to higher education remains limited.

Prepared by JFF for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, this report establishes a context for and emerging efforts to engage institutions of higher education, school districts and community stakeholders in developing early college high schools. The report reviews approaches to community engagement from three intermediary organizations. Each intermediary has initiated evaluation activities to assess the degree and impact of their community engagement activities. This report looks at early evidence of the impact of each approach.

By Susan Goldberger and Leslie Haynes
This brief examines how the California Academy for Liberal Studies  and its college partner, Los Angeles Trade-Technical College, are addressing a critical design challenge: how to structure and finance an integrated sequence of college study in which students earn up to two years of transferable college credit. CALS is supported by the National Council of La Raza, an intermediary organization working to create 12 early college high schools that serve Latino communities.

This school-planning tool guides partners through the year prior to starting an early college high school. It provides guiding questions at each stage of development, as well as important steps to accomplish over a 12-month planning period.

These two tools, one for schools in a planning phase and one for schools in an implementing phase, are based on Benchmarks for Early College High Schools. Intermediaries, school leaders, postsecondary partners, and faculty can use each as a self-assessment, planning, and teaching tool.

By Janet E. Lieberman
Over three decades ago, Janet E. Lieberman conceived of the idea of Middle College, a model which places high schools on college campuses. This concept contributed directly to the idea of early college high school, which goes a step further, blending high school education and the first years of college. Dr. Lieberman discusses the connection between high school and college education and how it can inform efforts to scale up early college high schools across the nation.

Housed in the Georgia College & State University School of Education,
Georgia College Early College offers hope of a brighter future to its
students and their families in its rural community. This case study examines
how GCEC achieves its mission of college success for all. The college-going
culture, small class sizes, and the adults and college students who work
with the school’s students enable these young people to believe in
themselves as learners, achieve academically and socially, and raise their
aspirations.

Jobs for the Future received funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to support the work of building and evaluating partnerships among early college high schools and their community and higher education partners. This report addresses several key research questions: What are the high school and college components and areas of collaboration required for students to successfully complete a dual degree? What do these components look like in operation? What factors are essential for students’ successful completion of the program within and across schools? How does participation in the program affect diverse students’ sense of efficacy, future aspirations and ambitions, and academic performance? What role does community engagement play in the program’s development and in the achievement of its goals? What state policies support and inhibit program development and student achievement?

JFF’s Annual Report to the W.K. Kellogg Foundation describes JFF-supported activities for the Early College High School Initiative during 2003-2004. The report focuses on the activities and products funded by the foundation, including: case studies comparing the strategies, activities, and outcomes of initiative intermediaries; case studies of early college high schools; development of a Student Information System; facilitation of a peer learning network among intermediaries and schools; development and dissemination of tools and resources; and development of school-wide literacy models in early college high schools.

This document describes the financial implications of the first five years of a hypothetical early college of 300 students in grades 9-13. In this model, early colleges are typically high schools located on reservations. This document’s purpose is to explain what we have learned to date about the costs of the early college model so that sites can make informed decisions about the financial requirements to sustain their schools. This analysis is a work in progress.

By Ronald A. Wolk

Drawing on the preliminary results of a long-term study led by Harvard researchers Karen Foster and Michael J. Nakkula, It’s Kind of Different focuses on Wallis Annenberg High School  in Los Angeles, CA, and Dayton Early College Academy in Dayton, OH. This report captures student, teacher, administrator, and parent perspectives on early college high school. The key findings from surveys of and interviews with members of the early college high school community focus on eight areas: an educational identity; continuous support; caring relationships; support for staff; challenging environment; importance of learning spaces; constructing knowledge; and widespread and intense commitment.

By KnowledgeWorks Foundation
Experience a day in the life of students and teachers at Toledo Early College High School, Lorain County Early College High School, and Dayton Early College Academy. They’re stories of triumph and frustration, progress, and setbacks. Told by writers who observed the schools first-hand throughout the 2005-06 school year, they capture the reality behind the statistics, reports, and debate to reveal how new approaches to high school education are touching lives.

This inspiring story in Agenda, published by the National Conference of La Raza, focuses on the George I. Sanchez Charter High School. Operated by the Association for the Advancement of Mexican Americans, the school is one of nearly 100 Latino-serving charter and alternative schools throughout the country in the NCLR Affiliate Network. The story is one of perseverance, goals, and the support needed to accomplish those.

Jobs for the Future prepared this resource to help intermediaries in planning to meet the financial and budgetary needs of early college high schools. The document includes general information and key considerations that may be useful to intermediaries as they begin to identify potential revenue sources. Included are strategies for gathering the information necessary for effective budgeting, as well as potential sources of funding. An Early College High School Budget Planning Template is provided to help think through revenues and expenditures. This resource is intended as background to help intermediaries facilitate discussions and budget planning with local community, school, and higher education partners.

This resource packet is designed to assist intermediaries in planning and negotiating Memoranda of Understandings/Agreements that spell out the relationships between early college high schools and their partner organizations. Selected sample MOUs/Agreements may be used as references or adapted in developing local agreements that specify expectations for the roles that schools, school districts, and postsecondary institutions will play in an early college high school.

By Katie Bayerl
The leaders and faculty of early college high schools are constantly working to develop the right mix of academic supports that make an accelerated curriculum feasible and ensure college success for every student. By focusing on a few good literacy practices in every class, early college high school faculty aim to increase rigor and support—simultaneously. This report highlights three early college high school science teachers who have crafted approaches to addressing literacy in a science classroom. These practices build students’ skills in reading, writing, and thinking, and they also increase their understanding of science content and support their ability to think and solve problems like scientists.

Interactive Science Composition Book
Interactive Notebook Rubric

EdSource, whose mission is to clarify complex education issues and promote thoughtful decisions about public school improvement, held a day-long forum focused on the need for change. The event painted a somewhat grim picture of high schools in both California and the nation. But the speakers, who included Tom Vander Ark of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Ref Rodrigues of the California Academy for Liberal Studies Early College High School, and JFF’s Nancy Hoffman, also spoke about exciting alternatives to the traditional high school—and they offered views on how to implement change.

JFF has developed the Student Information System for the Early College High School Initiative. The SIS is a tool for initiative partners—including schools, intermediaries, funders, and other stakeholders—to use in supporting continuous school development and improvement. It also will provide help in measuring long-term outcomes, including the attainment by ECHS graduates of four-year college degrees.

By Marcia Glick

When Dr. Marcia Glick of LaGuardia Community College began a partnership with the Early College High School Initiative in 2002, “I had a number of questions about the viability of including secondary students in the postsecondary classroom,” she writes. “Could the high school adolescents adapt to the college environment? Would they be able to ‘fit in’ and become college freshmen?” In this article, she addresses these and other questions. The bottom line: “Can Early College students excel in the college classroom? Yes.”

By Michael Webb
For early college high schools to be sustainable, we need to better understand the costs structures of early college models and identify those that have long-range potential. This pilot study was designed to begin answering three questions: What are reasonable costs and funding streams for planning and implementing various early college high school designs? How do early college high school costs differ from those for traditional high schools? How do projected revenues and costs for planning and full implementation vary across early college high school designs? The study is based on budgets from six existing and planned early college high schools.

Policy Issues

The APASS project (Academic Pathways to Access and Student Success) identifies and disseminates information about new and emerging academic pathways that extend from high school to college and enhance the transition to postsecondary education for underserved students, particularly underrepresented minority, low-income, and first-generation students. These pathways include early college high schools, dual enrollment programs, and more. Among the resources on the Web site is Academic Pathways to College, by Debra Bragg, Eunyoung Kim, and Melanie B. Rubin.

By Nancy Hoffman

This policy primer for states provides an overview of dual enrollment, a rationale for its expansion, and guidelines (including funding models) for states wishing to implement dual enrollment for a wider range of students. Brief case studies highlight substantial dual enrollment programs that serve a wide range of students and offer lessons for an expanded mission for dual enrollment.

JFF’s Michael Collins addresses an important state-level approach to assessing—and increasing—the value of public higher education: setting and publicizing clear, numerical goals for expanding student access and success. His report is based on JFF’s 50-state survey of state higher education plans. Early college high school intermediaries may find the results informative and useful in their advocacy efforts with state policymakers.

By Joel Vargas
Writing in the December issue of The State Education Standard, published by the National Association of State Boards of Education, JFF’s Joel Vargas discusses the secondary-postsecondary alignment issues that the Early College High School Initiative has brought into the spotlight. He makes the case for policy changes that not only support early college high schools but also can improve the transition of all students from high school through college. Other articles in this issue, which focuses on “Reforming America’s High Schools,” will be of interest to early college high school developers including, “Preparing All Young People for College, Work, and Citizenship,” by Stefanie Sanford; “High Standards and High Graduation Rates,” by Alissa Peltzmann and Craig Jerald; and “The Vital Role of State Policy in Education Reform,” by Scott Plamer, Amy Starzynski, and Jonathan Furr.

This report summarizes JFF’s findings and recommendations to enhance dual enrollment in Rhode Island, reshaping the programs from a collection of locally autonomous high school enrichment activities to a comprehensive statewide system that provides college transition opportunities to a wide range of students. Rhode Island has the opportunity to recast dual enrollment to meet the state’s goal to construct a more seamless, aligned PK-16 education pipeline. But to establish a widely accessible, high-quality dual enrollment program is not without challenges, including a bleak short-term state fiscal outlook.

The Commission on the Future of Higher Education, appointed by Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, released its report in September 2006. Among its recommendations: early college and dual enrollment initiatives are encouraged as ways to expand college participation and persistence. JFF Senior Vice President Richard Kazis provided written and oral testimony with these same recommendations to the commission in April.

By Nancy Hoffman and Amy Robins

More and more high school students are reducing college costs and getting a head start on college through various programs that enable them to earn up to two year’s worth of tuition-free college credit. The Nellie Mae Education Foundation asked JFF to explore the degree to which New England secondary and postsecondary institutions are implementing dual enrollment programs. This report focuses on dual enrollment programs serving young people who may not consider themselves “college bound.” It poses questions about whether dual enrollment could—or should—be developed as an approach to increasing the number of college graduates in the region.

By Nancy Hoffman and Joel Vargas

This JFF issue brief looks at the new and complex policy and finance issues raised by efforts to better integrate the secondary and postsecondary pipeline. It focuses on policy areas most relevant to the development of early college high schools: dual enrollment/dual credit, eligibility for college courses, transfer, teacher certification, funding, and autonomy. For each policy area, it points to policy changes that would benefit early college high schools and advance the agenda of creating seamless K-16 system.

By Travis Reindl

In June 2006, approximately 250 stakeholders—elected leaders, educators, researchers, and foundation officials—assembled in Atlanta for a first-of-its-kind gathering on accelerated learning. Accelerated Learning: Shaping Public Policy to Serve Underrepresented Youth, sponsored by Jobs for the Future and the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, marked an important evolutionary step for this adaptive innovation, connecting often disconnected conversations and providing a venue to identify and debate key issues and catalyze further research. Postcards from the Margin is a summary and analysis of the forum.

Augenblick, Palaich, & Associates, Inc.

Jobs for the Future commissioned the development of a financial analysis model for calculating the “ROI”—return on investment—for early college high schools. The model, created by Augenblick, Palaich, & Associates, Inc., http://www.apaconsulting.net indicates that young people and their families would recognize significant advantages in terms of savings on college tuition and increased lifetime earning from attending early college high schools, where students graduate with a high school diploma and also an Associate’s degree or up to two years of college credit toward a Bachelor’s degree. In addition, states would recover their financial investment in these schools in terms of higher educational attainment for young people, increased earnings, and a longer working life for graduates—and hence increased future tax revenues.

By Joel Vargas and Erika McKnight

Smoothing the Path describes successful state-level strategies and policy lessons learned in four states during the development of schools that integrate secondary and postsecondary education. It builds on an earlier JFF study, Integrating Grades 9-14: Policies to Support Early College High Schools,  that identified barriers to implementing these innovative schools. Statewide efforts in the multi-year Early College High School Initiative, which began in Ohio and Utah in 2002 and in Texas and Georgia in 2004, show how the barriers are being addressed.

By Melinda Mechur Karp, Thomas R. Bailey, Katherine L. Hughes, and Baranda J. Fermin

This report from the Community College Research Center at Teachers College, Columbia University, explores the regulatory landscape of dual enrollment by analyzing and summarizing dual enrollment legislation in all 50 states. It also explores the implications of state policy for individual programs and students, the ways that policies can promote or inhibit the spread of dual enrollment programs, and the many choices inherent in creating dual enrollment policies.

In October, the American Youth Policy Forum hosted a small group of national and federal policy organizations to discuss The College Ladder,  a compendium describing schools, programs, and policies that link secondary and postsecondary education to help students earn college credit or take college-level courses while in high school. The report includes a section on middle and early colleges, as well as references to two Early College High School Initiative partners, Gateway to College and the Middle College National Consortium. Nancy Hoffman and Joel Vargas spoke about JFF’s recent research and lessons learned from working with states on the design of dual enrollment policies and programs.

Early College High School News

This is a resource for practitioners and policymakers who plan, launch, operate, and wish to support and promote early college high schools. Jobs for the Future publishes the newsletter as part of its work as national organizer of the Early College High School Initiative.

Issue #6, June 2008            Read Online     Download PDF

Issue #5, March 2008          Read Online     Download PDF

Issue #4, November 2007    Read Online     Download PDF

Issue #3, July 2007             Read Online     Download PDF

Issue #2, February 2007      Read Online

Issue #1, November 2006    Read Online

Evaluations

Prepared by the American Institutes for Research and SRI International, the annual evaluation report on the Early College High School Initiative focuses on the development of the initiative as a whole, with particular focus on a random sample of early college high schools.  The evaluation is based on surveys, interviews, and site visit data. The interim reports are available here:

Early College High School Initiative Evaluation Year End Report: 2003-2006 (2007)

Early College High School Initiative Evaluation, 2003-2006, Summary (2007)

Early College High School Initiative Evaluation Year End Report: 2003-2005 (2006)

Early College High School Initiative Evaluation Year End Report: 2003-2004 (2005)

Early College High School Initiative: Intermediary Summary Report: 2003-2004 (2004)

This report is part of an ongoing series of reports based on the evaluation of the foundation's Early College High School Initiative.

Related Resources

This report, from JFF and the Center for American Progress, delineates the vital role that Congress can play in closing the high school graduation gap. It calls upon Congress to enact the Graduation Promise Act of 2007. This act would: establish a federal commitment to partner with states, districts, and schools to raise graduation rates; seed and scale up effective policies, strategies, and school designs for keeping high school-aged students in school and achieving at a high level of academic performance; and immediately put proven strategies to use in the worst-performing high schools.

This Educational Testing Service reports looks at the convergence of three powerful sociological and economical forces that are changing the nation’s future: substantial disparities in skill levels (reading and math), seismic economic changes (widening wage gaps), and sweeping demographic shifts (less education, lower skills).

By Andrea Venezia, Michael W. Kirst, and Anthony L. Antonio

More U.S. high school students plan to go to college than ever before, but many are set up to fail, according to the findings of six years of research by the Bridge Project at Stanford University. These barriers and mixed messages can be traced to the wide chasm separating K-12 and postsecondary education systems. States have created unnecessary and detrimental barriers between high school and college, undermining students’ aspirations and sending students, parents, and K-12 educators conflicting and vague messages about what students need to know and be able to do to enter and succeed in college.

This series of four publications, developed by the Education Alliance at Brown University, provides teachers and school leaders with concrete suggestions and hands-on professional activities to personalize learning in high schools. The guides describe workshop activities that can be adopted by teams of educators as they study and revise a school’s systems and daily practices.

• Introduction to the Personalization Workshops, by John Clarke, provides background information on changing systems (from schedules to curriculum) that support more personalized environments for teaching and learning. This volume introduces a series of six workshops to assist educators in the process of personalization.
• Personalized Learning, by John Clarke, focuses on getting students involved in designing their own learning pathway by using Personal Learning Plans and Student Presentations.
• The Power of Advisories, by Debbie Osofsky, Gregg Sinner, and Denise Wolk, illustrates ways to introduce an adult advocate into the life of every student to help guide student planning, learning, and assessment.
• Teaching to Each Student, by Dale Worsley, describes teaching methods that allow students with different skills, aspirations, and interests to succeed in meeting standards.

By Barbara Kent Lawrence, Steven Bingler, Barbara M. Diamond, Bobby Hall, Jerry L. Hoffman, Craig B. Howley, Stacey Mitchell, David Rudolph, Eliot Washor

Even though people may appreciate the benefits of small schools, too many think that the cost of such schools is prohibitive. This report from KnowledgeWorks Foundation, Concordia, LLC, and Rural School and Community Trust addresses two fundamental questions: can small schools be built cost effectively, and has anyone done so? Using data drawn from 489 schools submitted to design competitions in 1990-2001, it answers both questions and summarizes research on the educational and social benefits of small schools.

The Education Commission of the States has launched a compendium to Early College and Middle College. Still in development, this online resource features several publications from the ECHS Initiative.

This decision tool, prepared by Edvantia, is designed to guide users through critical steps for planning a high school on a college campus. Steps include assessing the foundation, engaging partners in planning, designing the program of study, planning the budget, recruiting and selecting students, and charting progress. The tool also provides brief introductions to the case studies and research on which it is based.

By Adria Steinberg, Cheryl A. Almeida, Lili Allen, and Susan Goldberger

The promise to “leave no child behind” can only be realized by moving beyond the limitations of current policies and institutions. Hence, the demand grows for learning environments that are effective and efficient in getting young people onto pathways to economic self-sufficiency and active citizenship. Drawing on JFF’s From the Margins to the Mainstream Initiative, this report identifies four building blocks for a system of educational opportunity—and propose strategies for improving and expanding effective learning environments.

The Center for Educational Policy Research is engaged in a three-year project to develop and disseminate a template and a process to create course frameworks in five disciplines that can be used to improve articulation and continuity among high schools, community colleges and universities at the local, system, or state level. These products will provide a model for designing an articulated curriculum between the educational worlds of K-12 and higher education. The project’s first stage is adapting existing courses to focus upon critical knowledge and skills; the second stage is creating new, seminar-like courses that emphasize the habits of mind necessary for postsecondary success. A common reference point is the set of Knowledge and Skills for University Success standards developed by the Association of American Universities. Eight Oregon high schools, four community colleges, and three universities are participating. Two strategic partners, the College Board and the Education Commission of the States, are committed to disseminating the results nationally to educators and education policymakers.

By Katherine L. Hughes, Melinda Mechur Karp, Baranda J. Fermin, and Thomas R. Bailey

This final report of a two-year study for the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Vocational and Adult Education looks at the ways that credit-based transition programs may help middle- and low-achieving students enter and succeed in college. The report contains case studies of credit-based transition programs such as Tech-Prep, dual/concurrent enrollment, International Baccalaureate, and Middle College High School in five states: California, Iowa, Minnesota, New York, and Texas. It highlights promising practices to help students who might have been considered non-college-bound prepare for college-credit course work.

What kinds of supports make the greatest difference in helping low-income youth prepare for and complete a college degree? To find answers, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation engaged the Bridgespan Group to analyze data from the National Educational Longitudinal Study. The Bridgespan report is accompanied by six commentaries from leaders in the field.

by Tracy A. Huebner and Grace Calisi Corbett

This report from WestEd profiles five schools that received funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: TechBoston Academy (Boston), Dayton Early College Academy (Dayton, Ohio), Chicago International Charter School Northtown Academy (Chicago), Arrupe Jesuit High School (Denver) and High Tech High (San Diego). It showcases their innovative educational approaches and highlights the progress being made. These are five different model high schools, with various methods of reaching the same goal: increasing graduation and college-readiness rates for all students.

The Small Schools Project provides support and assistance to K-12 schools in Washington State and nationally that have received reinvention grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The project works with both new small schools and those created by redesigning large comprehensive high schools into smaller, autonomous ones. The project’s Web site shares current knowledge about the development of small schools and hands-on tools for teachers, principals, administrators, parents and community members who are part of a small school or want to start one. Web-based resources draw upon the experience of schools in Washington state and nationally to guide school stakeholders through the tricky issues of new school design and/or conversion.

By Betsy O. Barefoot

As higher education has turned its attention to first-year students, colleges and universities have put in place numerous freshman programs, from small seminars to full-fledged, first-year courses. How close are we to achieving our goal of truly improving the first year? The author draws on research conducted by the National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition to describe those student experiences that highly correlate with success in the first year of college, highlight factors that inhibit more coherent and sustainable program development, and pose tough questions for educators and institutions to consider moving forward.

While North Carolina’s high schools arguably are performing better than ever before, they still leave far too many students unprepared for the demands of college, good jobs and citizenship. This deficit between better results and real world demands creates a “hidden challenge” that costs the state $100 million or more each year, a white paper by the North Carolina New Schools Project shows.